Assignment: Impacts of Prisons on Communities Essay

Assignment:

Use chapter 7 and the P.O.V. Prison Town film to write your paper:

-Watch the PBS P.O.V. series flim called, Prison Town, and write two pages discussing what the film says about the impact of prisons on communities, and discuss how the film relates to the chapter on deviance and crime. Are prisons to best way to economically strengthen communities?

Deviance and Crime What is Deviance? Deviance is behavior that is recognized as violating expected rules and norms. Characteristics of deviant behavior: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. It occurs in a social context and is not just individual behavior. It is culturally relative. The social rules are created or constructed; not just morally decided upon or enforced. The audience decides what is defined as deviant. Definitions of deviance change over time. Medicalization of Deviance Medicalization of deviance – attributes deviant behavior to a “sick” state of mind, where the solution is to “cure” the deviance through therapy or other psychological treatment. Sociological critique: -Ignores the effects of social structures on deviant behavior. Deviance is both created and defined within a social context. -Social class, racial inequality, gender relations, and family background produce deviance. Deviant Careers, Identities, and Communities A deviant identity is the definition a person has of himself or herself as a deviant. -A social stigma is an attribute that is socially devalued and discredited, and may result in people being labeled as deviant.

The label may become a master status (overriding all other features of the person’s identity). A deviant career is the direct outgrowth of the labeling process (there is a progression through deviance). Deviant Communities: groups that are organized around particular forms of deviance. -Deviant communities (just like subcultures and countercultures): -maintain their own values, norms, and rewards for deviant behavior. -create a worldview that solidifies the deviant identity of their members. -Examples include: biker gangs, neo-Nazis, but also groups such as Weight Watchers and Alcoholics Anonymous Explaining Crime and Deviance Functionalists focus on how the behavior and the audience’s reactions to the behavior contribute to the stability of society. -Even dysfunctional behaviors such as prostitution and arson reinforce stability. The behavior creates social cohesion, giving people a heightened sense of social order. Durkheim attributed suicide to social factors (and not to being mentally deranged). -He identified four types of suicide: Anomic suicide: the disintegrating forces in the society make individuals feel lost or alone. Altruistic suicide: there is excessive regulation of individuals by social forces. Egoistic suicide occurs when people feel totally detached from society. Fatalistic suicide: people feel that there is no way out—due to extreme overregulation. Explaining Crime and Deviance Robert Merton, a functionalist, (1910–2003) developed the structural strain theory of deviance. -Merton proposed that people conform to the social expectation when the goals and the means of reaching them are in balance. -He traces the origins of deviance to the tensions caused by the gap between cultural goals and the means people have available to achieve those goals. Social control theory examines the culture’s value systems and people’s attachment—or lack thereof—to those values. -Most people probably feel some impulse toward deviance at times, but the attachment to social norms prevents them from actually participating in deviant behavior.

The conflict perspective argues that the economic structure of capitalism produces deviance and crime. Conflict theorists demonstrate that the upper class has the means available to hide their criminal behavior. Elite deviance refers to the wrongdoing of wealthy and powerful individuals and organizations -White collar crime – wealthy elite will always exploit the poor and the working class. Explaining Crime and Deviance It is the people in power who make the rules that govern our society. -Tax and campaign laws are designed to favor the interests of the rich and the powerful. Those with little power or wealth are more likely to come into contact with a social control agent -For example, the courts, and be charged with deviant or criminal behavior. Differential Association Theory: believes people become criminals when they are more strongly socialized to break the law than to obey it. -Our primary group associations and interactions influence our actions. -For example: Hang out in a bar too long, and you will likely become an alcoholic. Labeling Theory interprets the responses of others as the most significant factor in understanding how deviant behavior is both created and sustained. -Label – when a person is assigned a deviant identity by others, including by agents of social institutions. It is people’s reactions, not the action itself, that produce deviance through the labeling process. Arguably, an act is not deviant until someone says it is. Explaining Crime and Deviance As stated previously: Deviant communities are similar to subgroups and countercultures.

They maintain their own values, norms, and rewards for behavior. -Joining a deviant community closes one off from conventional society. -This solidifies deviant careers because a deviant individual gets rewards/status from the in-group. Counting Crime and Types of Crime -Crime: deviant behavior that violates laws. -Criminology is the scientific study of crime and criminal behavior. -The Uniform Crime Reporting Program: based on actual national incident reports made by the police. -National Crime Victimization Surveys: a nationally representative sample of people who are asked if they have been the victims of one or more criminal acts. -Problem with statistics: underreporting (50% to 66% of all crimes may not be reported to police) Types of Crime: Personal and Property Crimes Hate Crimes Human Trafficking Gender-Based Violence Identity Theft Cybercrime Victimless Crimes Elite and White-Collar Crime Corporate Crime Organized Crime Terrorism The Criminal Justice System The policing of minorities and racial profiling. Police brutality, of which killing is one of the most extreme forms, refers to the excessive use of force by the police. -Sociologists have tested several hypotheses for why this occurs, reaching two conclusions: -The greater the proportion of minority residents in a city, the greater the use of coercive crime control, such as police force. -Spatially segregated minority populations are the primary targets of coercive crime control. -Minority communities are policed more heavily than are white neighborhoods. -Police are perceived as protective agents by Whites. -Police are perceived as threatening by members of minority groups, especially Blacks and Hispanics. -Most Blacks and Hispanics are law-abiding citizens. The Criminal Justice System -Bail is set higher for African Americans and Latinos than for whites. -Minorities have less success with plea bargains. -Minority defendants are found guilty more often than white defendants. -Blacks and Hispanics are likely to get longer sentences than whites. -Young Black and Latino men are sentenced more harshly than any other group and are less likely to be released on probation.

Important information for writing discussion questions and participation

Welcome to class

Hello class and welcome to the class and I will be your instructor for this course. This is a -week course and requires a lot of time commitment, organization, and a high level of dedication. Please use the class syllabus to guide you through all the assignments required for the course. I have also attached the classroom policies to this announcement to know your expectations for this course. Please review this document carefully and ask me any questions if you do. You could email me at any time or send me a message via the “message” icon in halo if you need to contact me. I check my email regularly, so you should get a response within 24 hours. If you have not heard from me within 24 hours and need to contact me urgently, please send a follow up text to

I strongly encourage that you do not wait until the very last minute to complete your assignments. Your assignments in weeks 4 and 5 require early planning as you would need to present a teaching plan and interview a community health provider. I advise you look at the requirements for these assignments at the beginning of the course and plan accordingly. I have posted the YouTube link that explains all the class assignments in detail. It is required that you watch this 32-minute video as the assignments from week 3 through 5 require that you follow the instructions to the letter to succeed. Failure to complete these assignments according to instructions might lead to a zero. After watching the video, please schedule a one-on-one with me to discuss your topic for your project by the second week of class. Use this link to schedule a 15-minute session. Please, call me at the time of your appointment on my number. Please note that I will NOT call you.

Please, be advised I do NOT accept any assignments by email. If you are having technical issues with uploading an assignment, contact the technical department and inform me of the issue. If you have any issues that would prevent you from getting your assignments to me by the deadline, please inform me to request a possible extension. Note that working fulltime or overtime is no excuse for late assignments. There is a 5%-point deduction for every day your assignment is late. This only applies to approved extensions. Late assignments will not be accepted.

If you think you would be needing accommodations due to any reasons, please contact the appropriate department to request accommodations.

Plagiarism is highly prohibited. Please ensure you are citing your sources correctly using APA 7th edition. All assignments including discussion posts should be formatted in APA with the appropriate spacing, font, margin, and indents. Any papers not well formatted would be returned back to you, hence, I advise you review APA formatting style. I have attached a sample paper in APA format and will also post sample discussion responses in subsequent announcements.

Your initial discussion post should be a minimum of 200 words and response posts should be a minimum of 150 words. Be advised that I grade based on quality and not necessarily the number of words you post. A minimum of TWO references should be used for your initial post. For your response post, you do not need references as personal experiences would count as response posts. If you however cite anything from the literature for your response post, it is required that you cite your reference. You should include a minimum of THREE references for papers in this course. Please note that references should be no more than 5 years old except recommended as a resource for the class. Furthermore, for each discussion board question, you need ONE initial substantive response and TWO substantive responses to either your classmates or your instructor for a total of THREE responses. There are TWO discussion questions each week, hence, you need a total minimum of SIX discussion posts for each week. I usually post a discussion question each week. You could also respond to these as it would count towards your required SIX discussion posts for the week.

I understand this is a lot of information to cover in 5 weeks, however, the Bible says in Philippians 4:13 that we can do all things through Christ that strengthens us. Even in times like this, we are encouraged by God’s word that we have that ability in us to succeed with His strength. I pray that each and every one of you receives strength for this course and life generally as we navigate through this pandemic that is shaking our world today. Relax and enjoy the course!

Hi Class,

Please read through the following information on writing a Discussion question response and participation posts.

Contact me if you have any questions.

Important information on Writing a Discussion Question

• Your response needs to be a minimum of 150 words (not including your list of references)
• There needs to be at least TWO references with ONE being a peer reviewed professional journal article.
• Include in-text citations in your response
• Do not include quotes—instead summarize and paraphrase the information
• Follow APA-7th edition
• Points will be deducted if the above is not followed

Participation –replies to your classmates or instructor

• A minimum of 6 responses per week, on at least 3 days of the week.
• Each response needs at least ONE reference with citations—best if it is a peer reviewed journal article
• Each response needs to be at least 75 words in length (does not include your list of references)
• Responses need to be substantive by bringing information to the discussion or further enhance the discussion. Responses of “I agree” or “great post” does not count for the word count.
• Follow APA 7th edition
• Points will be deducted if the above is not followed

• Remember to use and follow APA-7th edition for all weekly assignments, discussion questions, and participation points.
• Here are some helpful links
• The is a great resource